Academic English Socialization Through Individual Networks of Practice

Abstract

This article introduces the notion of individual network of practice (INoP) as a viable construct for analyzing academic (discourse) socialization in second language (L2) contexts. The authors provide an overview of social practice theories that have informed the development of INoP-community of practice (CoP;Lave & Wenger, 1991;Wenger, 1998) and social network theory (Milroy, 1987)-and review relevant literature on academic discourse socialization and more general L2 learning studies that have used either CoP or social network as theoretical frameworks. Next, they illustrate how INoP was applied in a study that examined the academic English socialization of Mexican students at a Canadian university. Findings from the INoP analysis of three participants provide evidence of its rich potential for examining academic (discourse) socialization processes in other contexts and possibly using complementary forms of data analysis involving the analysis of interactional data. The authors suggest future applications of INoP in TESOL to help refine and validate this construct. Investigating the INoPs of other groups of English language learners in English-medium institutions will help scholars, educators, and students better understand the often unseen but vital social processes that mediate learning and consider ways of maximizing the potential of social networks and practices for their own educational purposes.

Social Dimensions and Processes in Second Language Acquisition: Multilingual Socialization in Transnational Contexts

“…How are these positionings related to students’ identities and investments in L2 learning or multilingualism and their future trajectories (Darvin & Norton, )? What social networks and practices are learners embedded in while abroad and which languages (or language varieties) mediate their relationships and interactions (Zappa–Hollman & Duff, )? How do these networks and practices support their language development and other aspects of social participation? What ideologies are associated with SA experiences involving particular pairings of sending/receiving countries and the perceived (relative) status of the languages being learned (e.g., English L1 and Arabic, Russian, or Japanese L2, or vice versa)?…”

An EAP Program and Students’ Success at a Canadian University

“…Whether the friends are conationals, other NNES students, or domestic native speakers, students benefit from all of these relationships (Zappa-Hollman & Duff, 2015). By maintaining strong friendships with the classmates they met in the EAP program, the participants felt less isolated when they entered their disciplinary courses.…”

A Transdisciplinary Framework for SLA in a Multilingual World

“…Most recently, the construct has become contested among other reasons because of its inability to capture adequately powerful social relationships outside the community, with individual networks of practice being suggested instead in order to describe people's engagement with other users and learners of language (cf. Zappa–Hollman & Duff, ). Norm and choice , identity and agency are other important constructs.…”

“…While their understandings are to a great extent shaped by larger social institutional expectations, they, as individual agents, also play a vital role in shaping them. In these ways, not only identity and participation in real and imagined communities involving the L2 but also agency may dramatically affect learners' L2 trajectories (Duff, 2012;Duff & Doherty, 2015;Zappa-Hollman & Duff, 2015).…”